Nippon
Nippon is a sovereign interstellar nation based heavily on Japanese culture. Located in a region of habitable worlds between the Universal Council of Races and the United Earth Government, it is recognized as one of the main factions in the Milky Way Galaxy despite its relatively small size compared to the other main powers. The kanji that make up the faction's name mean "Sun origin." 日 can be read as ni ''and means sun, while 本 can be read as ''hon, or pon and means origin. The faction has been referred to by the famous epithet "Power of the Rising Sun," borrowed from "Land of the Rising Sun" used by Japan, a member country of the United Earth Government. The name Nippon is used as the name of the Faction, though is not to be confused with the seat of their government and homeworld, which shares the name Nippon. Physical characteristics The planet Nippon is the third world from the Sun, named Amaterasu. It has one moon, named Tsukuyomi. Nippon resembles the Planet Earth in many ways; located in it's star's habitable zone, Nippon is the only planet in the Amaterasu System that was not terraformed by the JSDF to support life. Nippon has a rough ratio of 7:3 of surface liquid water and solid land. Some of its mountains exceed 6 km in height, with the tallest peak, Grand Fuji, being 6767 m in altitude at the coordinates 46°21'32" E 61°35'53" N. The lowest point is almost 1.4 km deep and about 313° south-west of the Okama crater, also known as "the five color pond", a popular tourist destination. The Planet's landmass consists of several continents; the most populated and technologically balanced is a medium sized archipeligo, a slightly curved island chain consisting of 5 main islands and many hundreds of smaller, lesser islands. This land is called Wakoku, and is established as the main area of Nippon, having the location of both its former and current capitals, and highest population density and greatest balance between technological development and natural characteristics. It is quite obvious that, despite consisting of 5 main islands instead of 4, Wakoku greatly resembles the country of Japan on Earth. List of biomes * Ice Caps * Tundra * Highlands * Mountains * Grasslands * Deserts * Badlands * Shores * Water Continents * Wakoku ''(Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Shima): Main continent, resembling the country of Japan on Earth. * '''Chūgoku':' '''Second largest country on the Planet in terms of territory, part of the largest continent. Known for its traditionalism, including forests, grasslands, rice farms, and rivers flowing with mineral-rich water which causes them to take a yellow color. * '''Kankoku '(Hoku and Nan): ''Small nation branching off the main continent, bordering Roshia. Its North and South territories have been known to enter feuds and disputes about countless issues. * '''Roshia':' '''Largest country on the Planet in terms of territory, part of the largest continent. Known for its harsh winters in the North, polar territories, and wide expanses of forests. Despite this, it is the most heavily industrialized country, which is struggling to catch up to the more modern technologies other countries have. * '''Betonamu': Medium sized continent near Wakoku. * Tochi: Large island which is relatively isolated in the main ocean. Government *Machiko Tsuge: Prime Minister *Akira Emoto: Chief Cabinet Secretary *Kengo Kora: Executive Secretary to Chief Cabinet Deputy Secretary *Mikako Ichikawa: Minister of the Environmental Bureaucrat *Kimiko Yo: Minister of Defense *Sei Hiraizumi: Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries *Kenichi Yajima: Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism *Akira Hamada: Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications *Toru Tezuka: Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology *Arada Furuta: National Police Agency Commisionner-General *Moro Morooka: National Police Agency Criminal Investigation Bureau *Tetsu Watanabe: Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management *Taro Suwa: Disaster Prevention Division Director *Kanji Tsuda: Minister of Foreign Affairs Bureaucrat Official *Toru Nomaguchi: Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry *Satoshi Matsuo: Vice Chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council Colonies *Kamome *Oshima *Okushiri *Teuri *Rebun *Rishiri *Yagishiri *Notojima *Sado *Mitsukejima *Nanatsujima *Takashima *Odaiba *Heiwa *Izu *Amakusa *Itanjinmon History The Amaterasu system likely developed under the same astrological conditions that the Sol system did, with the planets forming much like the worlds surrounding Earth had. It is unknown how humans developed there, since humanity hailed from Earth, very far away and impossible to achieve through the means of technology available when both societies began to develop in modern times. One conjecture is that Nippon happened to be one planet belonging to the ancient human civilization around the same time the Forerunners were around; another plausible theory is that, during the galaxy's reseeding, measures were taken by the Librarian to distribute humanity across multiple worlds in the Galaxy to help speed their return to galactic power and ultimately claim the Mantle of Responsibility in a shorter time. Nippon remained quite isolated despite developments in interstellar voyaging technology, never venturing far outside of a relatively small astrological region of a few dozen stars. The people of Nippon were fearful of deep exploration in space at the time; after a new ruler came into power, he put tight restriction on exploration even within these few stars, desiring to keep his assets close to ensure his leadership was supreme and absolute. 'Discovery of Godzilla' In the early fall of 2554, shortly before the JSDF came into contact with the UCR, various disappearances of ships near Wakoku started a series of investigations, which lead to the findings of a massive Kaiju that would fall into infamy known as "Godzilla." Throughout the season, the JSDF found itself unable to repel the creature and safeguard the population of Wakoku, which came under attack from Godzilla multiple times. It was only through the intervention of Dr. Serizawa, who developed a secret superweapon, that the creature was destroyed, though his life was taken with it. All information on the weapon was purged by Serizawa, though efforts to revitalize his research continue to this day. After Godzilla was killed, the Nippon government was reorganized, including the establishment of several new officials to replace those that died from Godzilla's attacks. This included a new Prime Minister, whose new policies and leadership helped rebuild Nippon into a better, more peaceful faction, lifting the restrictions of interstellar exploration. Ultimately, these new lifts on exploration is what allowed the JSDF to discover the UCR. 'NDE Crisis' The Nippon government, having recently undergone some refinements including new leadership, was more than welcome to help their newfound interstellar society that was the UCR in their conflict with the NDE. Despite entering after the second half of the war, the JSDF performed well in cooperation with the UCR. In the end, their help was crucial in at least small ways to the victory of the UCR. Through this time, the JSDF also encountered and cataloged the Adventure Group. After the crisis, Nippon remained an ally to the UCR as well as the UEG, despite reluctance to sign any treaties on the matter of galactic alliances. The JSDF was seen in multiple other conflicts in helping their companion factions. The Great Destruction A great event occurred which caused the global retreat of every individual on the JSDF homeworld. Nippon was suddenly visited by a group of 5 CSOs from Exon; having not stopped anywhere in the JSDF's territory, the ships appeared right at Nippon's doorstep, though they claimed it was an urgent diplomatic matter. A diplomat from the UNSC and Exon were sent to negotiate an alliance with Nippon's Prime Minister in his estate, while one of the CSO's were directed to the moon for refueling. Though the conversation was at first relaxed, it became tense as the Prime Minister wanted details on Exon and UNSC's desire for the JSDF to join them against some unknown enemy. When he continued to ask questions instead of giving his answer, the diplomats became tired, and had their guards eliminate the Prime Minister's security and capture him alive. At the same time, the CSO at the Planet's moon suddenly sent an assault at its defenses, quickly conquering it before it rejoined the other 4 at Nippon. Within minutes, an invasion was sent to the surface; the JSDF space navy sent seemingly primitive ships to defend against these CSOs, while a relatively new Laser Sphere Grid ''was activated as a planetary shield. Despite this, the CSOs managed to penetrate the defenses and land their ground forces, while a large Exon and UNSC fleet arrived to repel the JSDF fleet, which was quickly annihilated. Nippon managed to send a quick call for help to other JSDF worlds before their main communications was taken out. The other JSDF worlds called for assistance as they scrambled their fleets, sending 3 to Nippon immediately while the rest gathered. JSDF's allies responded, though they could not act without the JSDF agreeing to fully become a member of their alliance. To do so, the main command on Nippon itself needed to be contacted. The CMF sent an infiltration team through the invading force, and while the JSDF's ground forces fought off Exon's army to little avail, communications were established. Though incredibly reluctant to do so, the commanders of the JSDF military, having assumed command of the Planet in absence of the government body which were captured or killed, finally succumbed to the CMF's wishes and joined the alliance. In rapid response, relief fleets from CMF, UCR, Vanguard, NRR, Necris, and TRM immediately went straight to Nippon, and began battle with the Exon and UNSC fleets. At this point, every single combat unit of the JSDF, be it infantry or vehicles on the surface or fighters and destroyers in space, made a mad dash to the nearest Exon unit in a last attempt to catch them off guard and take them down with them, resulting in large losses for the JSDF. Only the Armored Core units on the Planet did otherwise, opting to retreat from the battlezone once they realized even their agility and ferocity were not enough to combat Exon's army.Eventually, Exon and UNSC were herded away from Nippon by the Alliance. Scans of the Planet showed that every single innocent civilian had somehow disappeared; footage from the CMF infiltration shows a multitude of evacuation vessels moving out of the battlezone city of Edo, theorizing that everyone was literally evacuated and hidden in underground bunkers. Attempts to contact the JSDF military command resulted in eerie silence. 15 minutes after Exon and UNSC withdrew, one nuclear facility on Wakoku exploded, and other facilities were shown to be entering meltdowns. The collected entirety of the JSDF space navy from the other worlds arrived, stating they would clean up from the damages and rescue the military and civilian personnel remaining. They asked for the New United Nations to withdraw all their forces from JSDF territory, only allowing volunteer factions to patrol outside the territory to herd off further attacks when asked by the CMF if they could help in any way. 'War with the Garmillas' Shortly after the devastation (around 2578), JSDF leadership from other worlds received information on a radiological attack on a UNSC colony by a race of aliens known as "Garmillans," who gave the faction an ultimatum to surrender to them or further assaults would happen. Officially to travel alongside UNSC Naval power to find what the JSDF claimed to be "technology that could restore habitability from radiological attack," the JSDF sent a newly constructed Space Battleship called "Yamato." The Yamato proved highly effective in its aid, demonstrating success in its first combat test when helping the UNSC destroy the Garmilla ship hiding in a cloak field in the colony's Oort cloud, there to maintain watch on the UNSC and initiate further attack if necessary. After the Yamato's crew informed the UNSC that the source of the technology lied outside the Milky Way in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, the Space Battleship traveled there with the UNSC force, continuing to fight the Garmillas empire. After several more great battles, the Yamato was instrumental in claiming the technology and defeating the Garmillas military over their homeworld along with the UNSC. The Yamato was where a truce was signed between the UNSC and the Garmillas empire, and after returning to the colony and using the technology to cleanse its surface of all radiation, the Yamato returned to JSDF space, presumably to use the same technology to help restore Nippon's surface. 'Subterranean conflict' Only recently has knowledge been obtained on what happened to the population of Nippon. What is known is as follows. The entirety of Nippon's population had indeed retreated underground in pre-built super-shelters called "Layered." These super-shelters were each large enough to be considered cities in their own right, and were able to function without outside influence for at least two years; they had some ability to fabricate materials and resources, though this was greatly limited. These shelters were all interconnected, and all tasks and operations were managed by a powerful AI called DOVE, known by the populace as "The Controller." According to protocol, the entire populace had to remain underground for at least the next year, a contingency against any possibility of loss of habitation or remaining enemy military presence. No form of communication could be made with the outside universe, as the contingency protected against any sort of invasive intelligence gathering; for this reason, not even JSDF forces from other worlds could truly determine the state of the population. However, the contingency was not lifted after one year, as DOVE had determined the surface of Nippon to still be too dangerous for any sort of repopulation. This was initially supported by the government, as they were aware of several nuclear facilities releasing their harmful byproduct shortly before the mass evacuation concluded. Unfortunately, people had begun to doubt the validity of the claim, and after the 18 month mark came without a safe report, the population began to realize that supplies were running low faster than the projected shelf life decreed; despite being designed and intended to maintain a high concentration of people for a full two years, an actual test was never conducted due to being considered "cruel and inhumane" on select groups for simulation purposes. As a result, there was no prediction that the entire population would consume all stores of food, water, oxygen, and additional resources in less than two years. Additionally, any quaries made to DOVE on the status of the surface were met with the same blank reply, that the surface remained uninhabitable and that the contingency would remain in place until further notice. Several checks over the years started to unveil some minor problems with the AI's systems, as well. Three corporations rose to particular prominence around this time. "Mirage", originally an industrial machine manufacturer, matured into a powerhouse of maintenance and production to increase their influence, including the making of AC's. "Crest", Mirage's main competitor, was formerly a bioengineering group before redirecting its efforts into security, also incorporating AC manufacturing and was just as eager to expand its influence over the population. "Kisaragi" was initially a smaller group, but suddenly flowered after a successful stint in computer maintenance and research, and bided their time for opportunities to increase resources and influence. In August of 2578, a group called the "Union" unveiled themselves, announcing their disdain for DOVE's assessments and were opposed to the AI's seemingly uncontested rule of the situation of the population. They began to gain favor over the population and ended up as targets for the three corporations due to their disapproval of maintaining control over everyone. The opposing groups ended up going into protests, and eventually at the 2 year mark armed conflict erupted, with a corporate war being initiated and being too supported for the JSDF to prevent from happening. Most of the populace was divided into favoring the three groups, though a considerable number sided with the rebellious "Union." By this point, the "Union" came to believe that DOVE was malfunctioning due to its inaction regarding the conflict, and started making all efforts to escape the underground society. These operations were continuously hindered by the corporations, who each had private views in mind and sought to keep everyone underground, maintaining their influence and eliminating the competition so they could have total control over the population. It was discovered that DOVE was perhaps constructed purposefully flawed, to degrade and become more deficient over the span of a few years so as to lead to eventual societal collapse and allow some corporation to establish themselves as the new order. Which of the three corporations, if any, might have had part in this is unknown. The situation grew more dire, as the armed conflict began to damage the infrastructure of Layered, ranging from simple property damage to entire sections collapsing. A serious panic began to occur when segments of Layered started becoming too dangerous to live, with incidents ranging from food getting contaminated to the shutting down of oxygen and supports being loosened, causing structures to cave in. Investigations shocked members of the "Union" who realized that it was actually DOVE intentionally destroying the society it was built to protect and help maintain. 'Escape' Ultimately, the heads of the three corporations were eliminated, DOVE was destroyed, and the "Union" successfully broke out of the Layered. The JSDF on outside worlds were finally contacted, and were notified that the government of the underground societies had essentially experienced a total collapse. While the remaining powers of the corporations tried to survive, JSDF officials took away all their influence with their arrival, having declared martial law on the surface until society could be reorganized. The surface was indeed still partially uninhabitable, with only select cities safe to reintegrate any population. From this point, limited contact with the UCR was reestablished; all communication was still highly restricted, and public knowledge wasn't released on Nippon's repopulation. All information regarding the subterranean activity and surface repopulation was kept under such intensely high classification that only top political and military leaders were even remotely aware of it. A few new corporations rose from the ashes of the subterranean crisis, to replace the gaps left by the previous powers; Zio Matrix, Emeraude, LCC, and Balena. 'Resettling' Nippon is currently undergoing repopulation efforts on their homeworld. The experimental Radiation cleansing technology obtained from the war with the Garmillas is currently being used to clear most of the major cities so that civillians can return to their homes. However, issues remain as the major corporations that produce AC parts and supply missions for the Raven mercenaries currently war with each other, claiming areas of territory as well as vital resources. The JSDF from external colonies is currently going over options to resolve this. While the other colonies would be able to donate military power to protect the faction, the Nippon homeworld is vulnerable to infiltration and attack. Activities Sports 'Kinetica' An advanced Racing sport held on populous Nippon worlds, Kinetica involves pilots wearing "Kinetic Suits" equipped with wheels on the hands and feet, speeding around a magnetized track at speeds maximizing at 350 miles per hour (560 km/h). The goal, as in any racing game, is to be the first to cross the finish line after a certain number of laps. Racers can perform stunts to power up energy in their suit which provides them a temporary boost. There are also crystals scattered across the tracks; yellow crystals enable a special ability after a certain number have been collected, and purple crystals provide the special ability with just one. 'Bot Battle''' Once an illegal activity, after several rules and restrictions were made on the sport the past-time of "Bot Battle" was made into an official sport. Incorporating the use of remote-controlled robots that fight each other to the last, the sport has gained quite the sense of popularity inside and outside of Nippon. There are several variations of the sport, including free for all, team battle, king of the hill, and capture the flag. Category:Factions Category:Location Category:JSDF